Chase Elliott is a member of the Shane van Gisbergen fan club. SVG has won four of this season’s first five road course races in the NASCAR Cup Series and finished sixth when he failed to reach Victory Lane.
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SVS is starting from the outside pole this Sunday. So the Trackhouse Racing driver, whose previous triumphs this year came at Mexico City, Chicago (street race), Sonoma, and Watkins Glen, has a chance to win a fifth road course event at the Charlotte Roval.
Before the New Zealand driver came along, Elliott was considered the top road course driver on the Cup circuit. But he has watched almost in awe as van Gisbergen took that title away with his domination.
“There’s no question he’s done a fantastic job. I’ve always tried to give him the credit that I think he deserves for the discipline and how good he is at it, and I think that should be celebrated,” Elliott said of Van Gisbergen during Saturday’s media availability at the Roval.
“I’ve always been a fan of if a guy dominating something, so what? Writers and fans should celebrate that, and then us as competitors should figure out how we can make ourselves better to try and recapture where the bar has been set,” he added.
SVG has succeeded so quickly on NASCAR’s road courses because he was used to so many street courses in his previous racing stint in the Australian V8 Supercar Series. Van Gisbergen won three championships there before flying over the Pacific to try his hand at NASCAR racing.
“There are some similarities that I think have helped him make that transition into these cars,” Elliott said of SVG’s prior experience in Super Cars.
“But then you look at his Xfinity success on that side, he’s also very good in those cars, and that’s nothing like he came from. That’s why I say, he’s a great talent and we shouldn’t take that away, either,” added the 2020 Cup Series champion.
SVG is showing promise on Ovals
Granted, SVG has struggled learning American ovals, but he’s slowly getting there. Last Sunday at Kansas, for instance, he finished 10th, his career best finish on a Cup oval.
“He has certainly raised the bar in a lot of ways on the road courses,” Elliott said. So, I think you just give credit where it’s due, and I think he’s a good racer. He’s always raced me with a lot of respect, and from my perspective, I just want to get better and try to put myself and our team in the ballpark to go up there and run with it.”
Elliott would want to translate that desire to get better with a strong showing at the Roval. In his seven Cup starts at the track, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has two wins, three top fives, and five top 10 finishes.
SVG has only one start at the unique track, finishing seventh in last year’s race there. It remains to be seen how the two drivers handle the Charlotte infield and banking this time around.
